Catching Up

The heat and humidity this past few weeks has dropped on us has found the girls and I practically living at the pool together, sometimes with friends, sometimes just the four of us.  We did find ourselves out and about once for groceries and made it into a special date, at "Donald Doo's" of course!  

The girls had some fun at home with Travis and Emmett many days as well.  One of their more recent ventures was to make a spider web around the trampoline using rolls of calculator paper.  While it looked like we had been T.P.'d, it kept them busy for quite some time!  And I definitely was not going to complain that they were happily occupied and using their imaginations either. 

 This past week, Ezri started First Grade!  We decided, since Baby Pip (this is the name the girls have settled on calling baby until he/she arrives) will be interrupting school at some point early next year, we should start a little early so we have room to take time off later.  Ezri has been a good sport about getting back into school and is very excited about being a First Grader!

We still have much of our day to do as we wish, right now school is taking her about 2 hours to complete.  We have amped it up this year, adding in Science, History, more intense Reading and Writing, more difficult Math as well as alternating Computer, Art, Music and PE once a week.  

After tackling school in the morning, we play the rest of the day.  Several days, this has included an ice cream break in the shade, followed by some sticky little faces filled with smiles as they swing and chatter.

At the pool, we have had a good share of fun too, of course!  Ezri is swimming all over the pool with no flotation, under and above water, and fast too.  She is doing summersaults and hand stands under the water and jumping in with full confidence.  Alora is now swimming the shallow end with no flotation, mostly under water, also attempting summersaults and hand stands.  With a little more confidence and time, she will probably be swimming the full pool soon as well!  Tierney swims everywhere in her Puddle Jumper with no fear of getting her face or head wet.  While she isn't a big fan of jumping in alone yet, she loves to have someone catch her.

"Aunt Ancy's" pool is a favorite place for our girls, and the wealth of snacks certainly doesn't hurt.  They know Aunt Nancy will always have some treat waiting for them, whether she is home or not.  We are so fortunate to have the pool available to us anytime and blessed to have an aunt who loves on our kids as her own.

 This past week, at the pool, Tierney was full of antics on the deck, keeping us all entertained!

Not to be outdone, Ezri and Alora had their share of fun as well.  Lately, it has been hilarious to hook their Puddle Jumpers together so they are stuck back-to-back and then try to swim together.  Except for a little disagreement about swimming direction a time or two, it was full fun for them.  I joked that maybe I should bring them into the house for the girls to wear on days when they are not getting along. 

 We had a bit of summer weather excitement last Friday when some storms brought a tornado warning our way.  After the girls and animals were all in the basement, we turned on a movie to help pass the time and chase away the nerves.  Tierney soon fell asleep snuggled up with her sisters.

 I love seeing Ezri and Alora take such good care of Tierney.  Often, I find one of them snuggled up with her somewhere.

 Last Saturday was a very busy day for us.  Our church hosted a free carnival for the community, so we were at church hours before and after to help with set up as well as running the event.  It was a very humid day with rain scattered here and there, but overall it was successful, though a bit uncomfortable.  The girls had a lot of fun playing in the bounce houses and at the game tents.

 We took regular breaks inside to eat lunch, enjoy a snow cone or just cool off with a drink.

 Of course, we had friends galore to play with while there.

 We finished out our day with an evening in Sandy Pines complete with golf cart rides to see the Christmas decorations spread throughout the resort.  Needless to say, there were some very tired children (and parents).

Sunday, Alex and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary!